Name: PETER NICOL Country: SCOTLAND Date of Birth: 05/04/73 Place of Birth: Inverurie Resides: Chingford, London World Ranking: 1

Only two months earlier, Nicol had become the first Briton ever to reach No1 in the PSA World Rankings - deposing his long-time rival Jansher Khan, the world No1 for an almost unbroken period of ten years.
The Scot's rise through the world squash rankings has been little short of meteoric: He made his debut at 266 in January 1992. He raced to 52 by the following January, then rose to 14 twelve months later, moving into the top five by November of the same year. It was November 1996 before he moved up to No3, finally claiming the No1 position in February 1998.

Nicol was born in Inverurie, near Aberdeen, which is the oil capital of Europe on the east coast of Scotland. The left-hander won his first PSA Tour titles in 1992 - three in the USA in August, including the Albuquerque Open and Florida State Open. He claimed the Danish Open and Singapore Open titles in 1993, and in August the following year beat Pakistan's Zarak Jahan Khan to retain the Singapore Open crown. Within a week, he was competing in his first Super Series final - the Hong Kong Open, in which he dismissed Australia's No2 seed Brett Martin in the quarters, then Rodney Eyles in the semis (both in straight games), before losing to world No1 Jansher Khan.
This was Nicol's first meeting with Jansher since sensationally beating the world champion in the second round of the Leekes Classic in Cardiff in February.
After beating England's Chris Walker in the final of the US Open in November 1994, he won the Canadian Open in 1995 (in which he beat Jonathon Power, then ranked outside the world top 40, in the final). He then claimed his biggest prize to date, again beating Walker in the final, winning the Mahindra International in Bombay, to claim his first Super Series title. A year later, he retained this major Indian title, beating world No2 Rodney Eyles 3-2 in the final.

1997 was the pivotal year for Nicol - in which he won four PSA Tour events, beginning in January with the Hartford Cup, which he played instead of defending the British national title he had won for the first time in January 1996. In April, he overcame a wretched association with the British Open in which he had failed to win a single match in four years of trying. This fifth attempt was not without incident, however, as he had to fight back from match-ball down in the third game to beat England's Paul Johnson in five games.

Indeed the match, in which Nicol avenged his defeat by Johnson in the 1996 event, will be remembered as one of the most remarkable in British Open history - as the audience cheered a win for Johnson at his match-ball in the third, with the players shaking hands as they came off court, only for the referee to call them back to replay the disputed point - which saw the game, and match, then go the Scot! His confidence restored, Nicol went on to defeat Brett Martin in the quarters, Eyles in the semis, and then extend Jansher Khan in the longest (126 minutes) and most gripping final on record, before succumbing 17/15 9/15 15/12 8/15 15/8.

This match proved to be the turning point for Nicol, who then beat Jansher in their next three encounters - in the final (3-1) of the Al-Ahram International by the Giza pyramids near Cairo; in the semi-finals (3-2) of the Kuwait Open in October; and, in December, in the final (3-2) of the Mahindra International as he claimed his third successive title in Bombay.

It was this victory, which put Nicol ahead in the Super Series points total for the first time, that ultimately clinched the No1 ranking for the Scot - though he had to wait till February 1998 for official confirmation by the PSA computer!

Despite losing to Jansher in their first meeting in 1998 - in the semi-finals of the Super Series Finals in Hatfield, England - Nicol arrived at the British Open's new venue in Birmingham in April as top seed for the first time. His new world No1 status carried him through the tournament in fine style - beating all his opponents without dropping a single game, before triumphantly beating Jansher Khan in the final.

His British Open win followed success in the Austrian Open in March, and this led to the Hong Kong Open in August - in which the Scottish favourite fell in the final to Jonathon Power, the Canadian who was returning to the PSA Tour after an ankle injury. This was Nicol's sixth successive loss to Power in two years, but the Scot was to gain sweet revenge little more two weeks later .

It was in the men's final of the Commonwealth Games in Malaysia - squash's triumphant debut in this prestigious multi-sport event - in which Nicol beat his long-time adversary in five games to take the first ever squash gold medal in a match screened live on TV in Britain and many countries around the world.

After a hiccup in the Al-Ahram International in Egypt when he lost to Martin Heath in the last four - his compatriot's first win since the pair met in local leagues more than ten years earlier - Nicol went on to clinch the Kuwait Open title, and in November the US and Heliopolis Opens, in both cases beating Power in the finals.

Nicol's final target in the year would have been a glorious 'Grand Slam' - becoming the first player in history to win the British Open, the Commonwealth Games and the World Open titles in the same year. The fairytale ending to his already remarkable year, however, was not to be - this time Jonathon Power had 'home' advantage, playing on his favourite court in the world, in the Mahindra World Open which had been rescheduled at the eleventh hour from Bangalore in India to Doha in Qatar.

After his four-game Power loss in the final, Nicol conceded: "It was probably one tournament too many - but I will learn from this experience, and will be back stronger than ever next year."

Nicol's 1999 campaign began well, with a win in the Greenwich Open in the USA in January. Later in the month, however, he faced Power in the semi-finals of the Tournament of Champions in New York, the year's first Super Series event spectacularly staged at the city's famous Grand Central Station. Once again the top seed faltered as Power won in straight games in front of the nearest thing to a home crowd since winning the world title.

The pair next met on Nicol’s ‘home ground’ in London in May - in the semi-finals of the PSA Super Series Finals, staged in the open air on the Perspex court in a marquee in the Broadgate Arena in the heart of the city. Nicol was top seed, but had just relinquished his world No1 status to the Canadian.

Peter, however, was in sparkling form and dismissed Power 15/13 15/2 15/4 in 42 minutes. He admitted afterwards that he had played well – "exactly as I had planned to do" – and went on to take the tile after beating Ahmed Barada 15/8 9/15 15/9 15/11 in the final.

Power and Nicol faced each other again in June’s final of the new Libertel Open in Holland. This time it was Power who was in command, with Nicol slumping to a 3-0 defeat after surviving a tough four-game semi-final battle with Simon Parke the previous evening.

After spending his early years in Scotland, where his father Pat was the Scotland team coach, and sister Julie a leading national player, Peter now lives in Chingford, east London, where he trains with England team coach Neil Harvey. As a youngster, Peter was a talented soccer player. Today, like many of his contemporaries, he also enjoys playing golf. He also lists "shopping" as his most enjoyable non-sporting pastime.
As 1998 came to a close, Peter Nicol's status in world sport was recognised in both Scotland and Britain: He narrowly missed out on the principal award as "Top Scot" in his country's "Scotland on Sunday/Glenfiddich Spirit of Scotland Awards", but was unanimously voted 'Top Sportsman'. Meanwhile, at the Sports Writers' Association of Great Britain's prestigious annual awards dinner, Peter won the "Pat Besford Award" for 'outstanding achievement during the year', becoming only the second squash player ever to win an SWA sports award.

His supreme achievements in the sport were duly recognised, however, in the most distinctive manner in June 1999 – when it was announced that he had been awarded an MBE (a ‘Member of the British Empire’) by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth in the annual ‘Queen’s Birthday Honours’. He joins a distinguished group of squash players who have been similarly recognised in Britain – including Jonah Barrington, Lisa Opie, Martine le Moignan and Susan Devoy.